Whinge about water rates $320 access

Yep thats $320 every six months just to have access to the town water.
Plus the $100 odd for the first level water use. That gets paid by the landlord (me).
Lets see
320 +320 equals 640 per annum for access and an estimated $200 per annum for the cost of the water itself.

That is $840 per year for water in a property (strata titled unit) that only rents for around 10,000 per year.
thats 8.4% of the rent gone.

Did somebody say LOW NETT YIELD Batman!????!

Is this amount typical of other regional cities? Anyone know?
:eek::eek:
 
Cities no, but some towns yes. In my old town they have a massive 'railway town' surcharge for untreated unfiltered e-coli infested dam water to be pumped to houses in half the town. I don't know the exact numbers but it is hundreds a bill too - my house was on the side without mains water so I'm relying on loud whinging from the people with water paying the huge bills.

I'm in a very small regional and pay $47 supply charge each bill and then $20 for the water, but then this house has a council val of $106k and it is value based. We're just on the Morgan line that supplies the entire Yorke and Eyre peninsulas.
 
I don't think it will be to far into the future where all of us have to pay huge water costs. It's becoming and ever more valuable resource and the cost will only go up.

The council for our area of the far south coast of NSW made a mind blowing decision. The local dam couldn't hold enough water for the growing population and we were regularly on water restrictions especially through the peak holiday period.

The council discussed building a second dam and selected a suitable site, but on the advice from the research outsource consultants they decided to put in a pipeline from a couple of the local river's to top up the dam when low. Problem solved they said and patted themselves on the back ... money well spent.

Now this may seem fine, but think about it .... When the dam is low there is also no flow in the river, so the pipeline can't be used and we are placed on water restrictions, however when the dam is full the rivers are also flowing. The trouble is that by then the dam doesn't need to be topped up as it is already full from rain and run-off.

All this amazing intelligence from local govt costs us all an extra $100+ on top of the rates and of course the due diligence was outsourced to the tune of mega bucks. They now have a couple of pipelines that cost ratepayers millions of dollars that basically lay idle ..... if it wasn't so stupid you'd laugh.

Martin ... :rolleyes:
 
I don't think it will be to far into the future where all of us have to pay huge water costs. It's becoming and ever more valuable resource and the cost will only go up.
This irks me something severe. Water is currently very, VERY cheap but finite and there is an easy and not especially expensive alternative if you don't live somewhere polluted or are willing to put in a filtration system - rainwater. But at the current prices there is no real incentive to do so, I spend $40 a year on town water and couldn't justify $5000 for a really big tank unless I was planning on staying here a long time - which I am not.

But it is hard/very expensive setup to make all your own electricity, you really can't live without the stuff, and it costs a fortune as if it is scarce but it is technically infinite. Nothing stopping the government building more power stations of various kinds. But it is so expensive that the incentive to get home-based power generation happening is getting very high, especially with the green loans. $10k for a 3KW solar setup is only 5 years electricity, if not less the way prices are going.
 
This irks me something severe. Water is currently very, VERY cheap but finite and there is an easy and not especially expensive alternative if you don't live somewhere polluted or are willing to put in a filtration system - rainwater. But at the current prices there is no real incentive to do so, I spend $40 a year on town water and couldn't justify $5000 for a really big tank unless I was planning on staying here a long time - which I am not.

Agree Rumpled. I am never keen on conspiracy theories, but the way govt ignores some of the simple solutions in favour of expensive and convoluted schemes sometimes has an odour of big business lobbyists about it.:mad:

Regarding our water woes in Toowoomba (105,000 pop); at least we will now have water security. We have been on level 5 for some years now.
The water security has come at a cost however.
I am hoping that the benefits of actually having water available now will outweigh the burden of the high costs. This new burden is sure to affect property values in some way or another.
The council says the new high costs are reflecting the true cost of the water.
This accords with your view, mystery.
Perhaps we are at the forefront of progress!:D
 
The water avilability charge around my parts is about $150 per quarter from memory. My PPOR normal cops a 40$ usage fee on top of that.

I have a rental with a single in it. $20 PQ usage charge.
A one bedder $15 PQ usage charge
A 4 bedder with 4 contractor workers in it $150 PQ usage :eek:


4 workers my ****. Im counting beds at the inspection next week.:mad:
 
we've just had our water charges increase by $70/qtr to go towards building a new dam that is not required, no one wants and is not even approved by government yet.

not happy!
 
we've just had our water charges increase by $70/qtr to go towards building a new dam that is not required, no one wants and is not even approved by government yet.

not happy!

I am betting that the additional charge is NOT included in usage part of the bill either, which means the Landlord has to, once again, pick up the tab. I am pretty sure that ALL tenants use water, so you would think that all residents would have to pay for it, not just the Landlords who get to pay multiples of the extra charge.
 
I'm feelin your pain Giddo, literally....
$406 for my PPOR for the half year, as I live here I happily paid it for the water security, but would be upset if I was an out of town investor. At least the Mayor declined his latest proposed payrise or there might be effigy burning and public lynchings. :p
 
I'm feelin your pain Giddo, literally....
$406 for my PPOR for the half year, as I live here I happily paid it for the water security, but would be upset if I was an out of town investor. At least the Mayor declined his latest proposed payrise or there might be effigy burning and public lynchings. :p

Ah another Toowoomba forumite, Brothers together in pain......



But not altogether alone by the sound of others on the forum.

Lets hope the new water security helps RE values a bit in Toowoomba. At least the place might green up a bit!:)
 
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